


I Wish for One More Day to Give My Love and Repay My Debts

by xpiester333x



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 03:12:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3594216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xpiester333x/pseuds/xpiester333x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Straw Hats adjust to life after Merry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Wish for One More Day to Give My Love and Repay My Debts

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt from stolenbymothersea on tumblr: things you said after it was over

Sanji chops the vegetables, preps the meat, kneads the bread, and plates their food all on the same small stretch of counter.

“Why don’t you use the rest of the counter space?” Nami asks.

Sanji turns, looking almost surprised to find that there’s so much more space surrounding him.

“I don’t know…” he muses with a small smile.

But Nami thinks she knows why. The Merry never did have enough counter space.

* * *

The storm is on them before they can try to escape it.

“Chopper!” Nami calls out her orders to their youngest crewmember. “Man the tiller!”

“But we don’t have a tiller!” he cries, his panic overtaking him as the waves begin to spill over the deck.

“I meant- Ugh!”

Chopper realizes later that she meant for him to take the helm, but she spoke out of habit. The Merry never had a helm to take.

* * *

The battle to escape the natives on the last island went quite well, all things considered. The injuries their crew has sustained are minor, nothing a few bandages couldn’t fix.

“Luffy?” Chopper calls, noticing his captain hunched over something, shooting furtive looks.

“It’s just a scratch!”

Chopper notices the small puddle of blood before he sees the long angry wound on Luffy’s arm. It’s not a bad wound, but it will need stitches.

“Luffy, I’ll grab my medical kit! Meet me in in the galley!”

“Huh?” Luffy’s confusion is enough to stop Chopper before he could leave. “Wouldn’t it be in infirmary?”

“Oh.” Chopper tugs on the brim of his hat, feeling a little embarrassed. “Yeah, you’re right.”

He’s still not used to having his own infirmary.

* * *

Luffy twists and fidgets on the figurehead.

“Is something wrong, Luffy?” Robin asks, looking up from her book.

“I dunno,” he says, his lips twisting into a confused frown. “It’s just not comfortable.”

“Perhaps because it’s because it’s different than you are used to?”

She watches his back stiffen a little.

“Yeah,” he says, his gaze turning to the endless sea before them. But he isn’t looking forward, she knows. She is watching the weight of his duty as captain settling onto him.

“I guess it is,” he says.

* * *

“Robin?” Usopp frowns, setting aside the screwdriver he’s been using to repair part of his kabuto. “What are you doing down here?”

“Making coffee,” she says simply. Behind her is the familiar set up of tubes, beakers, and a burner that she’d made out supplies she’d gotten from Chopper. For a moment his eyes catch on the makeshift coffee brewing station, and he can see it in a different setting entirely. He shakes the itch of nostalgia away.

“Isn’t there a coffee maker upstairs now?” He asks.

“Maybe.” Robin’s usually serene smile falls just a little at the corners. “But it tastes better this way.” She shrugs a little, and looks apologetic.

“I get it,” he says, because he of all people does get it.

* * *

Usopp stands, looking aimless and lost with a hammer in his hands. Zoro watches him through cracked eyes pace from the mast to the railing, inspecting the woodwork on each. He watches Usopp frown, gripping the hammer tighter in his fist.

“There isn’t anything to repair right now.”

Usopp whips around, startled by Zoro’s statement. Zoro for his part makes a big show of yawning and stretching, allowing time for his words to sink it.

“Oh. Yeah…” Usopp looks at the useless hammer in his hand. “I guess the Adam wood is pretty strong.”

“This ship will probably carry us to the end,” Zoro muses.

He watches Usopp’s eyes widen, and a look passes through them. Sadness, disappointment, frustration. But then the sharpshooter smiles, and the other emotions are gone.

“Yeah,” Usopp says. “That’s good.”

“Yeah.” Zoro repeats.

* * *

“God dammit, marimo!” Sanji snaps twisting around to fume at the man he’s just tripped over.

Zoro grunts and finishes his push-up. He tries to stand up, but Sanji forces him down, using his body as a crutch to help him stand. Zoro glares at him, but Sanji ignores him in favor of relighting his cigarette.

“Why are you working out here?” Sanji asks looking at the varied assortment of weights that the swordsman had to have carried down from the crow’s nest. “I thought you would have loved having your own training room.”

Zoro turns his gaze to the sea, and for one irritating moment Sanji thinks he’s being ignored. But he can see something in the marimo’s eyes. He thinks he must be imagining it, because he’s never seen Zoro look like that before. Like he’s looking back, like he has regrets he wishes he could mend. But he knows that’s impossible, because Zoro doesn’t hold on to things. He doesn’t get attached to things like that.

Zoro looks at Sanji and shrugs. “I guess I just felt better doing it down here today.”

“Sure,” Sanji says, turning away. “Don’t miss lunch,” he adds as he heads back to the galley.

He didn’t think Zoro was the type to get to attached to things, especially things like a ship, but maybe he is.

Sanji crushes his spent cigarette on the bottom of his shoe, and turns his attention the ocean as well.

He can relate.


End file.
